Ondo enters tailspin as late founder’s mother sparks power struggle with CEO
- Nathan Allman’s mother has sued Ondo Finance CEO Ian De Bode in Delaware, arguing he unlawfully seized control after the founder’s May death.
- Ondo’s company contracts, spending and share issuances are legally uncertain until the dispute is resolved.
- De Bode calls the suit meritless, while the token has slid to about $0.35 as traders move coins to exchanges.
The estate of late Ondo Finance founder Nathan Allman has taken the tokenization firm’s current chief executive to court in Delaware over a legal ownership dispute.
A disputed leadership handover has left the company with two rival power centers and the estate is asking a judge to decide who legally runs the company. Until a judge rules, the legal standing of the company’s contracts, spending and share issuance is in doubt.
Who are the two rivals aiming to run Ondo Finance?
Three complaints were filed on the 6th of August in Delaware’s Court of Chancery by Kathleen Allman, the mother of the late Nathan Allman, founder of Ondo Finance.
When Nathan Allman died in late May at 32, he held three roles at once: CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder, according to the complaint.
His death froze the company. His voting shares passed into his estate, so no one had the authority to exercise them, and with the single board seat empty, there was no director left to appoint a successor or call a meeting.
That deadlock continued until a Hawaii probate court made his mother administrator of the estate on June 26, handing her the voting power.
The estate is accusing Ian De Bode, Ondo’s former president, of using the gap before probate closed to install himself. According to the filings, De Bode took advantage of the bylaws to declare himself CEO, then leaned on a shareholder agreement to name himself sole director and started acting alone.
Kathleen Allman’s suit argues Ondo’s charter allowed the CEO vacancy to be filled only by a board decision, and since no board existed, De Bode’s appointment was void along with everything that followed.
De Bode also allegedly leaned on corporate resources to pressure Kathleen into signing documents cementing his control, and he and Ondo’s outside lawyers refused her request for a shareholder list.
Did the Allman estate attempt to resolve its ownership dispute out of court?
After gaining her voting rights, Allman did not immediately fire De Bode. She joined the board, put an interim operating policy in place to keep the business running, and kept De Bode on as president while asking for basic company records, all of which De Bode and Ondo’s counsel declined to recognize.
De Bode has called Allman’s claims “meritless” and her decision to sue “regretful.” According to him, Ondo still has the backing of “key stakeholders, including its lead investors and the Ondo Foundation.”
The Ondo board said in a statement that it remains focused on serving users “without interruption” while it searches for a permanent successor. The company also recently named former Blockchain.com executive Adam Schlisman as its chief financial officer.
Ondo, founded in 2021 and backed by Coinbase, Wintermute, Tiger Global and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, is leading the real-world asset market with about $3.5 billion in total value locked.
It runs products including the OUSG tokenized Treasury fund and the yield-bearing USDY token, but following the news of the dispute, ONDO fell about 6% over 24 hours to $0.35. The company is currently trading at roughly 84% below its December 2024 record of $2.14.
More than 10 million ONDO was reportedly moved onto exchanges as the news spread, with some transfers tied to Ondo team wallets, and put the two-day drop at around 9%.
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FAQs
Who now claims to lead Ondo Finance?
Both Ian De Bode, who became CEO after founder Nathan Allman's death, and Kathleen Allman, the founder's mother, who was voted in as board chair and interim CEO at a July 24 board meeting she convened after gaining control of the estate's shares.
Why did the leadership fight happen?
Allman died in late May as Ondo's CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder, and his voting shares were frozen in probate until June 26, leaving a governance vacuum that the estate says De Bode exploited to install himself as CEO and sole director.
How has the ONDO token reacted?
ONDO traded near $0.35 on August 7, down about 6% in 24 hours per CoinMarketCap, and more than 10 million tokens, some from team-linked wallets, moving onto exchanges as selling pressure grew.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
